CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are significantly higher among Christians than among the religiously unaffiliated, according to a poll by Pew Research released to coincide with Trump’s first 100 days in office.
Trump’s approval rating continues to be highest among white evangelical Protestants, while Catholics are almost split at 42%, according to the poll.
Across the board, Christians gave Trump a higher approval rating than nonaffiliated Americans by more than 20 percentage points (48% versus 26%, respectively).
The approval rating for President Donald Trump among Christians is also 8 points higher than among U.S. adults overall.
Among Christians, white evangelical Protestants had the highest approval rating of Trump at 72%. Black Protestants had the lowest approval rating of the current president at 10%.
Trump’s overall approval rating with white Catholics was significantly higher than with Hispanic Catholics, standing at 52% and 26%, respectively.
Pew surveyed more than 3,500 U.S. adults from April 7–13 for the poll.
Policies and ethics
Forty-three percent of Christians found the Trump administration’s ethical standards were “excellent” or “good.”
When asked about the ethical standards of top Trump administration officials, about 7 in 10 white evangelicals rated them as “excellent” or “good.” Nearly half of white Catholics and a quarter of Hispanic Catholics agreed.
About half of Christians approved of the Trump administration’s action to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and its budget cuts to federal departments, while 46% approved of the substantially increased tariffs on imports.
For these various Trump administration policies, approval rating points among Catholics sit in the 40s.
Overall, 43% of Catholics approved of the Trump administration’s anti-DEI action; 47% approved of federal department funding cuts; and 41% approved of increased tariffs.
More than half of white Catholics surveyed (54%) said they approved of the anti-DEI initiative, while a large majority of Hispanic Catholics (69%) disapproved.
In addition, 55% of white Catholics approved of cuts to federal departments and agencies while 65% of Hispanic Catholics disapproved.
Another 70% of Hispanic Catholics disapproved of the increased tariffs, while 49% of white Catholics approved.
Across the various categories, Catholics do not vary from U.S. adults by more than 3 percentage points.
Trend now downward
This month Trump’s approval ratings dropped by 7% among U.S. adults overall, according to Pew.
The drop comes in the wake of the Trump administration implementing a surge of tariffs on various foreign imports.
Trump’s approval ratings dropped by 1 percentage point more among white Catholics than it did among the religiously nonaffiliated.
The president’s approval rating declined within several categories among Christians. Among white Catholics and Black Protestants, his approval ratings had an 8-point drop. Among white evangelicals and the religiously nonaffiliated, it dropped by 6 and 7 points, respectively.
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So we can’t buy as much.
So what?
It’s not like we’re all living exciting lives in the U.S. Apparently, average Americans, especially young people, spend many hours every day staring at social media on their cell phones. The only cost is a comfortable chair or bed on which to park our bodies for several hours, and also the price of the cell phone (every few years). The rest of the world just kind of…disappears, as we check out our many sites
And so what if we have to reduce our family spending?! The statistics show that the average American man weighs 199.8 pounds, and the average American woman weighs 170 pounds. I am a woman and I currently weigh more than the average man and I’m finally working with a dietician to get back to a healthier weight (Medicare pays for it). I see more “fat” than “thin” in the U.S. It certainly doesn’t hurt me, along all the other “average American people” to cut back on how much we eat! Many of the restaurant meals that we enjoy have over 2000 calories–just for one meal for one person!
As for expenses, well, the trend in housing seems to be “HGTV-style mansions!” Sunrooms, home gyms, separate laundry rooms, hidden pantries, a separate living room and family room, a media room (often in a re-finished basement that could easily accommodate another whole family), bedrooms for every person in the family along with a guest suite for visitors, a chef’s kitchen–when I was growing up, many Catholics with large families lived in a three-bedroom, one bathroom house with a galley kitchen (where mom cooked 3 meals everyday) and a living room, and a basement where they did their laundry and where Dad would set up a small workshop and store his tools unless he had a one-car garage. The kids played outside. Maybe if we went back to that kind of house and life, we wouldn’t have house payments that make up over half of our take-home pay.
We buy a new car (or cars) every few years and never own a car outright.
We spend huge amounts to keep our children involved in sports (but not music, or at least, Catholics don’t seem to get their children into piano lessons and children’s choirs, even though singing is something that almost anyone can do for a lifetime unless they lose the ability to speak, and of course, Catholics don’t sing–I think that’s somewhere in the Mass rubrics). I realize that some people hope that their child will be good enough at their sport to earn a full ride to college, but…I’m guessing that doesn’t happen in most cases.
We go on “dream vacations” rather than just heading to a nearby park or museum. Many of us have never visited any of the attractions in our own town or city but instead head for huge (and expensive!) theme parks where we walk and sweat and spend even more money on expensive food and souvenir t-shirts. And if we choose to get back to nature and camp, we do so in a trailer that many people in the world would willingly live in!
We buy, buy, BUY! And much of what we buy is food, food, and more food! And let’s not forget the alcohol–it seems that almost everyone now enjoys wine and beer on a daily basis. And soda (which I admit to buying, but it’s a lot cheaper than alcohol!). And sweets–instead of making them, we head to an ice cream shoppe and spend $6 for a for a small cone of some gourmet flavor with toppings!
I am a widow, have been retired for several years now and living on a fixed income–and I’m doing just fine with my fixed income, which is adequate. I find a great deal of pleasure in visiting local antique stores, although I seldom buy anything except certain books that I collect–and these are usually sold for virtually nothing. I eat simple foods–no need for large meals anymore, especially since I’m overweight. (Sadly, I do have a tendency to make myself a cake once in a while and end up eating much of it myself!). I have a cat which one of my neighbors gave me–cats sleep and purr and are fairly cheap and don’t require a daily walk or regular baths. I read voraciously, like a true bookworm–it’s so nice to finally have the time! And I give more to my parish and other charities than I ever did while I was working! My main amusements are TV, which is still fairly cheap, reading, which I am grateful that I can still do, taking walks in my neighborhood or at a nearby park, playing with my cat, and babysitting my 4-year-old grandson. I also enjoy being with my family and treating them to a meal out.
And I’m involved in small ways with my parish–when I was young, I was constantly involved and often so busy doing church work that I was never home. But now…I do what I can and give as much as I can. It doesn’t cost me anything to make a Holy Hour.
How much do we need anyway?! Yes, Pres. Trump is fabulously wealthy–but if you read his biographies and have followed him through the years, he has worked for that money! His father made him work in every part of his business (including the parts involving building and construction!), and I’ve read that Pres. Trump did the same for his children (and keep in mind that he has five children–a “sin” in the view of many people who blame overpopulation for all our societal problems!). Pres. Trump’s children, IMO, are a testimony to his character–I don’t think any of them are involved in any scandal yet, and because First Lady Melania had the wisdom to sequester Barron away from the public during her husband’s first term as President, he has turned out to be a charming, intelligent, and capable young man who did a great deal on the campaign trail to convince younger people to vote for his father.
I pray that Pres. Trump will continue to force the U.S. to confront and correct our constant overspending both at the government level and in our own lives.
Yes, I may turn out to be wrong about him. The U.S. Presidency has a way of revealing true character and often, it’s rotten. But in the meantime, I am very grateful that America elected him instead of the alternative. I think this is a time when all of us need to examine our spending and possibly make changes.